A ballicater is a jagged wall of ice that forms on a frigid shore when pans of ice catch on rocks and slush freezes over them. A Canadian woman who grew up in Newfoundland says she’s warned never to go near one. Ballicater, spelled several ways...
Christine in Santa Cruz, California, says her well-traveled father always used the phrase I’ve seen the elephant and heard the owl to mean “I’m not easily deceived” or “You can’t pull the wool over my eyes.”...
As a kid, you may have played that game where you phone someone to say, “Is your refrigerator running? Then you better go catch it!” What’s the term for that kind of practical joke? Is it a crank call or a prank call? There’s...
A conversation with a leading expert on polar bears has Martha thinking about several bear-related words, including the term arctic and the feminine name Ursula. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Polar Words”...